Facebook Has a Long Memory

Maybe you're sick and tired of a competitor's behavior, or you want to tell Uncle Mike what you think of his politics. The comment is on the screen, ready to go, pithy, cutting, memorable…

…and a bad idea. So you hold off, saving yourself the embarrassment.

But Facebook remembers. The site collects data as you type, then analyzes users' 'self censoring' behavior.

According to Australia's Sydney Morning Herald, the technology is little different from Gmail's automatic draft backup. But where Gmail locally saves information for the user's benefit, Facebookers get nothing.

They also don't know it's happening. While Facebook's Data Use Policy says that the site collects information when you 'view or otherwise interact with things,' it has no provision for posts that weren't made.

Click here to learn what Facebook claims to do with your 'self censorship' and what it means for the site's future.